When the entire state went into lockdown just a few weeks after a couple took over a cafe, they were immediately struck by Wagga's support and generosity for its local businesses.
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Glenn Pallister, the former executive producer of the Footy Show, and his wife Karen, a long-time caterer, bought Le Brooks at the Australian Arcade earlier this year.
"We always fancied, because I grew up in Wagga, that we might have a bit of a tree change from our sea change to the Central Coast and find a business down here," Mrs Pallister said.
"We had been scouring, and we then settled and thought 'oh, we won't do anything', but then this one came up."
Mr Pallister said the thought of moving five hours away from Sydney was daunting, but he did love Wagga, so when cafe came up for sale, he knew it was the right move.
"We came down, and we had struck a deal with the owners by that weekend," he said. "The former owners had it for about 20 years."
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The name Le Brooks came from a former owner of the cafe after their two children, Leanne and Brooke, and the Pallisters knew they wanted to keep the history of the business alive.
After they purchased the space, the couple moved in by July 1, and just a few weeks later, a state-wide lockdown hit.
"We weren't too worried about the lockdown because we knew a lot of people would still come in, but we had to adapt by putting a table at the door and taking the orders," Mrs Pallister said.
"We had been here for only a couple of weeks when I got a gig with Channel 7 producing for the Olympics, so I went up for four weeks and then came back and had to isolate for two," Mr Pallister added.
"So poor Kaz, the training wheels were gone. She got match-fit pretty quickly, and also she has experience in this."
After a short time, one thing about the Pallister's new home became evident - they had a community willing to back them.
"The loyal customer base that was already there has come through and stayed with us, and they all turned up," Mr Pallister said.
"The sense of community is great. Everybody in Wagga has got your back. In Sydney, it is 'do your best', but down here, it's like 'we'll help you do the best'."
"In a way, the lockdown gave me a chance to ease into it because we own the actual site as well," Mrs Pallister said.
"We could control it as we didn't have to pay rent or go to the landlord. So we were fortunate in that sense. We didn't have that pressure, but a lot of businesses had to deal with it."
While Mrs Pallister loves to whip up baked treats, make relishes from scratch, and cook hours on end, Mr Pallister said it is a "daunting" change to be helping to run a cafe.
"But we have been loving it," he said. "We love meeting new people, and we are so excited to meet even more."
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